Capturing the Giving on #GivingTuesday

The 2016 Holiday Season is just over 30 weeks away. While even the most opportunistic retailers would say it’s too soon to put out holiday decorations, many nonprofits are already planning their strategies for the next holiday giving season.

For years, the people who support classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org have given more on December 31 than on any other day of the year (save for a few moments like #BestSchoolDay). We’re typical: many nonprofits receive a majority of their donations during the holiday season, when Americans are feeling generous and finalizing tax deductions for the year.

Since 2012, another day has emerged as a generosity juggernaut. #GivingTuesday is the brainchild of the 92nd Street Y, whose leader, Henry Timms, wanted to create a philanthropic capstone (or counterweight) to the holiday spending frenzy known as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. DonorsChoose.org has participated from the beginning, and we’ve seen more giving on that day with every passing year.  In 2014, #GivingTuesday was our fourth biggest day of the year. This past year, #GivingTuesday came in second - right behind the reigning champ, December 31.

This past holiday season, we saw just how much #GivingTuesday has entered the national consciousness.

Thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we were able to email our supporters with an offer to match any donations they made to classroom projects. One segment of donors received the call to action on #GivingTuesday, and another segment received the same pitch the following day, Wednesday.  

Across the board, the call-to-action sent on #GivingTuesday performed better: more people opened, clicked, and made donations on Tuesday than Wednesday. That’s the power of #GivingTuesday!

We see these results as a testament to the public’s growing awareness about this philanthropic holiday and their excitement to be a part of the movement.

We’re looking forward to the fifth #GivingTuesday on November 29, 2016. In the meantime, all of us at DonorsChoose.org are wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday campaign planning season :)